The story has been repeated a thousand times, and told to every successive generation now for nearly twenty centuries, as an illustration of the peculiar type and character of the ambition which controls such a soul as that of Caesar.
[Sidenote: Caesar's ambition.] Caesar was very successful in the administration of his province; that is to say, he returned in a short time with considerable military glory, and with money enough to pay all his debts, and famish him with means for fresh electioneering.
[Sidenote: Manner of choosing the consuls.] [Sidenote: Pompey and Crassus.] He now felt strong enough to aspire to the office of consul, which was the highest office of the Roman state.

When the line of kings had been deposed, the Romans had vested the supreme magistracy in the hands of two consuls, who were chosen annually in a general election, the formalities of which were all very carefully arranged.

The current of popular opinion was, of course, in Caesar's favor, but he had many powerful rivals and enemies among the great, who, however, hated and opposed each other as well as him.

There was at that time a very bitter feud between Pompey and Crassus, each of them struggling for power against the efforts of the other.

Pompey possessed great influence through his splendid abilities and his military renown.